Club Med Bintan Island Resort

Life’s a Beach

Bintan is the go-to place for Singapore residents who are looking for a quick weekend getaway on the beach.

There are many white sandy beaches in Asia like Boracay in the Philippines, Pangkor Laut in Malaysia or in the many islands of Maldives.  But it is only Bintan that can be reached in less than one hour without taking a flight from Singapore.   It’s located in the Riau Province of Indonesia and is really just 50 minutes by ferry from Singapore’s Tanah Merah terminal.

Once you’ve reached Bintan, the resort coach will be waiting at the terminal to bring you to your summer destination.

It doesn’t have the glorious white sand that Boracay has but Bintan’s fine, off-white sand, and clean, well-groomed beaches, are more than enough to make my family visit the island at least once a year.  My boys love the outdoors and that includes the beach and so if we can’t go back to the Philippines to enjoy the white sand there, we go to Bintan to satisfy our beach craving.

  We have been going to Bintan since 15 years ago, around the same time we migrated to Singapore,  but last year was our first time to try Club Med.  And I must say that, after a fun and carefree time at their resort, Club Med has become our ultimate choice of resort in Bintan.

Their all-inclusive package includes room, food, drinks, on the beach and off-beach activities and night shows.  You can also include the return ferry ride between Singapore and Bintan if you like.  Visit their website  https://www.clubmed.com.sg/r/Bintan-Island/y to see the list of all their awesome activities for the entire family.

We spent all of our 3 days in Club Med enjoying the beach and the resort’s free-flow of cool drinks.  But hey if you’re not a fan of the beach, you can play tennis or archery or do some yoga in the resort, or join the elephant or mangrove tour on the island.

Club Med is one of the few resorts on the island where you can actually spot and swim with colourful fishes in the shallow waters.

Joaquin has severe fish protein allergy but look at that, he can swim with them, thank God.

If not in the sea, we were on the shore, playing in the sand.

 While Euben was getting a massage one afternoon at the Wellness Centre, I was relaxing as well on the beach, watching our kids running around.

Benjamin tried beach volleyball and stand-up paddling.

We also went for a little hike one morning.

And found this bench on top of the hill…

I have to mention that Club Med has a heated outdoor swimming pool which was really a plus and which many of the other resorts in Bintan do not have.

Another nice thing about Club Med was the buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner.

One night we joined the buffet grilled dinner served by the pool, where the guests were also treated to an acrobatic show.  After that, we also had a bit of dancing in the ‘disco’.

But the most relaxing thing for me, and the reason that I say it was a carefree weekend at Club Med, was the resort’s ability to cater to food restrictions.

The ocean view rooms where we stayed in were not 5-star but comfortable, good-sized, and most of all, clean and renovated not so long ago.

Sunset over the ocean is always beautiful, like the one that afternoon.

But our sunset watching was interrupted by a 4-feet monitor lizard.

We were amazed that it wasn’t scared of us and stopped a few times to allow us to take some pictures and videos.

Going back to gorgeous sunsets, here are two iphone shots of the sunset that weekend.

x.o.x.o.